Tomax Logistics Newsletter

In December last year, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack turned the first soil on the Inland Rail. Mr McCormack marked the ceremonial start of construction at a site in Parkes, NSW during an event attended by ARTC executives, construction contractor INLink and other dignitaries.

Construction is beginning where the first 5.3km of new rail for Inland Rail is to be built and close to where around 98km of existing corridors are being upgraded between Parkes and Narromine.

ARTC chief executive John Fullerton said the start of Inland Rail construction is a historic and important milestone for Australia. “The sod-turn for Inland Rail is a significant, momentous occasion and it’s fitting to celebrate it at the site where the first greenfields section of Inland Rail will be built,” Mr Fullerton said.

“When Inland Rail is operational, Parkes will be an important hub with double stacked, 1800 metre trains connecting west to Perth and Adelaide and along the east coast between Melbourne and Brisbane.“Australia’s rail system has always been essential to the freight supply chain and once built, Inland Rail will enhance the national freight rail network.”

Inland Rail chief executive Richard Wankmuller said Inland Rail would transform the way Australia moved freight.

“With Inland Rail we will have a more resilient rail network, with multiple pathways to meet the needs of our customers while also providing flexibility for our farmers by connecting to existing regional freight lines,” Mr Wankmuller said. “Inland Rail is the safe, sustainable, integrated solution that will help address Australia’s current freight inefficiencies. This new 1700km freight rail line will help capture commercial opportunities in both metropolitan and regional areas through more efficient and commercially responsive supply chains.”

ARTC chair and former infrastructure minister Warren Truss said with Inland Rail now in construction, the benefits and jobs were being realised with Aussie steel from Whyalla (SA), concrete sleepers being fabricated in the NSW Southern Highlands, ballast coming from Parkes and culverts produced in Tamworth. “Inland Rail will generate opportunities and benefits to the regions – 16,000 jobs and $16 billion dollars to the economy and will stimulate business activity beyond the construction phase,” Mr Truss said.

Inland Rail is to include about 1100km of major upgrades and enhancements to existing track and construction of approximately 600kms of new track.

Just last week the ABF reported that Australian and U.S. authorities recently seized more than 1.7 tonnes of the drug ice, equating to over 17 million drug deals with an estimated street value of $1.29 billion. This is the largest ever shipment bound for Australia and the largest ever domestic seizure in the U.S.

Officers from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Victoria Police arrested six people in Victoria and NSW so far for their alleged involvement with the U.S.-based organised crime syndicate responsible for the shipment.

The investigation commenced as a result of intelligence gathered by the Victorian Joint Organised Crime Taskforce (JOCTF) about a planned large-scale drug importation by a suspected syndicate operating out of California.

The Victorian JOCTF comprises the AFP, Victoria Police, the Australian Border Force (ABF), the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) and the Department of Home Affairs. The Victorian JOCTF enlisted the support of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Homeland Security Investigations Border Enforcement Security Task Force (HSI BEST), which located a consignment suspected of containing illicit drugs before it left U.S. shores.

As a result, the HSI BEST and U.S. Customs and Border Protection detected more than 1.7 tonnes of various illicit drugs – largely methylamphetamine – inside two containers, which were said to contain audio equipment.The drugs were seized in California by U.S. authorities on 9 January 2019 before they could reach Australian shores.

The shipment included the following drugs, with their respective estimated street values based on their value if they had reached Australia:

• 1,728kgs of methylamphetamine, estimated to be worth more than $1.29 billion and equal to more than 17 million drug deals
• 25kgs of cocaine, worth an estimated $9.5 million
• 5kgs of heroin, worth an estimated $2.6 million

The previous record seizure of methylamphetamine bound for Australia was 1.3 tonnes, seized in Western Australia by the WA Joint Organised Crime Task Force in December 2017.

As a result of extensive investigations to identify the alleged syndicate connections in Australia, the JOCTF executed 10 search warrants on 7-8 February 2019 in the Melbourne suburbs of Woodstock, Pakenham, Derrimut, Campbellfield, Keilor Downs and Epping, resulting in the arrest of two U.S. nationals and two Australian nationals.

A large sum of money allegedly linked to proceeds of crime was located during the search warrant in Woodstock, and about 6.5kg of methylamphetamine was found at a property in Keilor Downs. Three of those arrested were charged with attempting to import a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, whilst the other was charged with possession of a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug. The maximum penalty for these offences is life imprisonment.

Three search warrants were also executed last week in the Sydney suburbs of Bonyyrigg Heights, Mount Pritchard and Hinchinbrook, resulting in the arrest of two Australian nationals and seizure of about 2kg of cocaine. Those arrested will also face charges of importation and possession of border controlled drugs.

In Canada, with assistance from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Federal Serious and Organised Crime Unit (FSOC), five additional search warrants were executed in Burnaby, British Columbia on 7 February. These search warrants resulted in the seizure of a significant quantity of suspected proceeds of crime.

AFP Assistant Commissioner Organised Crime Bruce Hill said the JOCTF investigation demonstrated the effectiveness of Australian and international authorities working together to stamp out illicit drug importations. With this being the largest ever seizure of ice, authorities have outdone themselves by preventing the devastation these drugs would have caused to our community. AC Hill has publicly thanked our U.S. counterparts for their expert involvement in this investigation and strong support of our efforts to keep these drugs off Australian shores.

BMSB Italy Fumigation Update

With the last update, following an audit and extensive discussions three suspended providers were in the process of being reinstated. But with the BMSB issue in full swing and heat treatment proving itself not to be highly successful, fumigators and AQIS have come to an agreement on the below operative rules for loading:

It is MANDATORY to leave an open space of 30-35cm for all the length of the container and the goods MUST be loaded onto pallets to let the heat circulate in the container. Some fumigators have also requested space to be left at the doors.

Heat treatment is the method being used in most of the ports and terminals in Italy, with very few terminals having the capability of fumigating with sulphur fluoride. If you have further queries relating to the fumigation of your container, please contact our Customs department on 1300 TOMAX.

Australian Summer Impacting Industry

Weather has been impacting shipping and logistics on opposite ends of the country. Furnace-like heat in Melbourne for the month of January caused some delays at Swanson Dock container terminal at the Port of Melbourne, while in Pilbara WA, local authorities kept a close eye on a cyclone in the Indian Ocean.

The Bureau of Meteorology reported temperatures around Melbourne reaching figures in the early 40s for some days in January. A spokesperson for DP World Australia said operations at West Swanson terminal stopped at 11.15am on Friday 25 January and resumed at 2.40pm on the same day due to extreme weather conditions. A spokesperson for Victoria International Container Terminal said during the hottest part of the day they were able to advance breaks under the terms of their industrial agreement.

Meanwhile in Australia’s far off Pilbara region, local port authorities kept a close eye on Tropical Cyclone Riley. Pilbara Ports Authority had begun cyclone preparations at the ports of Ashburton, Dampier and Port Hedland. However, Tropical Cyclone Riley remained offshore during its life span and had minimal impacts on the northwest coastal communities except isolated very heavy falls along the northwest Kimberley coast.

Port Infrastructure Fees

Patricks have followed suit and announced their infrastructure fee rises effective 4 March 2019 for all full containers entering or leaving their terminals.

Effective from 4 March, the new charges for full containers are:

•Sydney $77.50
•Brisbane $71.50
•Melbourne $82.50

The Patrick fee increases from what is now to what was announced are:

•Brisbane 87%
•Melbourne 74%
•Sydney 89%

No increase has been announced for Fremantle, with a Patrick spokesman stating they would not know about that terminal “until we have been through the tender process and costs are known”.

In a statement to customers, Patrick stated the infrastructure surcharges recovered “a portion of the full costs associated with providing these landside operations which are essential to continue to provide our customers with superior and efficient landside service levels”.

“We regret this change to our tariff, but we have been left with no alternative in the current challenging economic environment without sacrificing infrastructure investment,” Patrick stated.

The Patrick announcement comes hot on the heels of a decision by Victoria International Container Terminal to increase its infrastructure surcharge 77% to $85.00 per container starting from 1 March 2019.

Friday Funnies

We can't guarantee that these jokes are funny but we hope they'll ease you into the weekend!

A man and his pet giraffe walk into a bar and start drinking. As the night goes on, they get drunk, and the giraffe finally passes out. The man decides to go home. As he's leaving, the man is approached by the barkeeper who says, "Hey, you're not gonna leave that lyin' here, are ya?" "Hmph," says the man. "That's not a lion -- it's a giraffe."

There was once a man named Odd. People made fun of him because of his name so he decided to keep his gravestone blank when he died. Now when people pass by the burial site, they point and say, "That's odd."

I was hanging out at my buddy's house, and my friend hands me a hard-boiled egg as a snack. But because it was sitting in the fridge overnight with all these leftovers, the egg smelled like fried chicken. But he didn't tell me what happened. I got the egg; I was all confused. I was like, 'Yo, this egg is an old soul. Clearly way ahead of its time -- it's not even hatched, and it already smells like a full grown, two-piece feed.'

A new teacher tries to make use of her psychology courses. The first day of class, she starts by saying, "Everyone who thinks they're stupid, stand up!" After a few seconds, Little Johnny stands up. The teacher asks, "Do you think you're stupid, Johnny?" "No, ma'am, but I hate to see you standing there all by yourself."

The day my little boy was born, a friend of mine called me because his little girl was born the day before. He goes, 'Who knows? Maybe they'll end up getting married.' My little boy's a day old. His little girl's two days old. He's not gonna marry someone twice his age.

I had a kid who threatened to kill me one year because I gave him an F. Another teacher caught one of my students writing 'Kill Mr. Vallee' in his weekly planner in the section labeled 'Weekly Goals and Objectives.' And the school was freakin' out. They didn't know what to do about it. They kept asking me if I felt threatened, and I'm like, 'Why? This kid hasn't met any goals in his objectives all year.'


"Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family." - Kofi Annan